In the preparation of labels for mass mailings of magazines, envelopes or the like, names and addresses are printed by a computer in columns and rows on sheets of web material, such as paper, banded together and having transport holes along the side thereof. Depending upon the input to the computer and the desires of the user, the names and addresses are printed in various numbers of columns, usually 3, 4 or 5 columns to a given width of web material. In addition, the height of each name and address combination may vary depending upon whether each name and address is a 3, 4, 5 or 6 line combination, or more. Thus, labeling devices or heads, and in particular those devices providing a feed mechanism for a sheet of web material from which labels are produced, have not, to date, been capable of easy adjustment to cut labels of varying lengths and heights. Heretofore, major gear change operations were required to change a label head to cut labels of varying sizes, during which considerable production time was lost due to machine down time.
Prior apparatus of the type to which the present invention relates use pin wheel feed means to drive a computer-produced list band of names and addresses through a guillotine cutting blade which cuts a single row containing a multiple number of names and addresses to a given height. In such machines, the guillotine is driven by a power train through a set of gears which operate the guillotine through a given time cycle proportional to the paper feed speed to produce labels of a desired height. As the paper is fed forward, trimmers are also provided to remove the perforations at the edges of the web. The strip of paper cut by the guillotine is ultimately fed laterally to a rotary blade which cuts the strip into 3, 4 or 5 separate labels, depending on the number of columns appearing on the web. Next, each label is carried to a glue-applying head and application station where the label is applied to a mailing piece.
Machines of the type described which are currently available are constructed to produce labels of varying heights and lengths, but the change-over from one mode of operation to another requires complex mechanical drive trains and gear reduction changes. For example, complicated gear speed reduction changes must be made to change the speed ratio between the guillotine blade and rotary blade when changing from a 3, 4 or 5 column operation. In most machines, this requires the actual removal and replacement of gears in the guillotine power train. Also, by way of example, the web feed speed in most prior devices can only be adjusted to provide labels of different heights by means of complex mechanical alterations to the web feed power train. In some installations, a different label head must be used for each label height requirement, which obviously increases the cost of the mailing operation.
Therefore, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a label-producing head which can easily and economically produce labels of varying heights and lengths without requiring the operator to make complex mechanical alterations to the machine when changing from one label size to another.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a label head having the capability of enabling the operator to change the web feed speed by making a single, simple mechanical movement change.
An additional object of the present invention is to provide a label head wherein the relative speed of a guillotine blade and a rotary cutting blade can be altered by a simple mechanical operation which does not require disassembly of the head, whereby labels of different lengths are produced.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a label cutting head having a ratchet and pawl power drive for a web paper feed system, wherein the throw of the ratchet and pawl power drive, and consequentially the incremental movement of the web, can be varied by a single, simple mechanical operation.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide an easily manipulated operator-controlled variable gear reduction system for driving a guillotine blade in a label cutting head to produce labels of varying lengths.